The word meme entered internet use through genetic metaphors of cultural transmission

Evidence

But what to call the individual unit of viral culture? In 1990, law school student Mike Godwin adapted a term from evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins’s 1976 book, The Selfish Gene: meme. Dawkins had coined the word to describe “a unit of cultural transmission” that propagates itself through imitation, much like genes do biologically. His examples ranged from catchphrases to clothing styles to architectural techniques. Though his comparison to genetics was often criticized as simplistic, the term meme gained traction, especially online, where it became useful for tracking the spread of cultural phenomena. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 186

Categorization

• DEFINE: Ties the contemporary internet ‘meme’ to Dawkins’s original unit-of-cultural-transmission coinage and Godwin’s 1990 adaptation.